Croatian Interior Ministry denied on Thursday the claim by Slobodan Ujic, head of Bosnia and Herzegovina's service for aliens, who on Tuesday said that some 6,000 illegal migrants have entered Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina since the end of last year.

“The information that 6,000 illegal migrants have entered Croatia this year is completely false. Croatian police have in the first six months of 2018 found some 2,630 illegal migrants and legally processed them,” the ministry said in a statement.

They added that the Croatian border police was protecting the national border in line with Schengen practice and all relevant national laws.

Ujic had said that of the 9,730 illegal migrants registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 60 percent have left that country across the Croatian border.

This year, 245 people smugglers were arrested, which shows that the Croatian police is successful at preventing human trafficking as well, the ministry said.

Legal and sustainable migrations are the priority of Croatian Interior Ministry and the police, and we cooperate on a daily basis with neighbouring countries with the aim of exchanging information on border security and illegal migrations, they concluded.

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